Category: All Posts

Any and all content created by WKDU DJ’s (includes album reviews, show reviews, personal lists, opinion pieces, etc)

Pre-Record Store Day chat with Icebird (RJD2 & Aaron Livingston)

RJD2 & Aaron Livingston
RJD2 & Aaron Livingston in our record library. Photos by Gabe Coffey (lostalgian.tumblr.com)

Everyday is Record Store Day for a lot of us, including RJD2 and Aaron Livingston, who recorded a brilliant album together in 2011 as Icebird. I had the privilege to sit down with them in our studio last week to chat and play some records ahead of the Record Store Day vinyl release of their album The Abandoned Lullaby.

“I feel weird saying I have a lot of records when I’m sitting next to RJ. I have a few records,” said Aaron.

RJ responded, “But I don’t have a lot of records, I don’t have records like Rich Medina. I have a modest record collection when I consider the heavy duty record collectors. I don’t have a storage unit -there’s a defining line and I’m a non-storage unit guy.”

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An obscure Israeli mixtape from Juval Haring (of Vaadat Charigim)!

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Juval Haring– from shoegaze-psych Israeli band Vaadat Charigim– was nice enough to create a super awesome playlist of obscure Israeli music for us! The Tel-Aviv band will release their new album, Sinking as a Stone, May 5th on Burger Records. Listen to a new track from the album and Juval’s playlist below.

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Rich Medina’s ALL VINYL Hot Mix set in GIFs

Rich Medina is a straight up legend. He’s one of the few DJs out there that can bring crowds to a frenzy with literally any style of music. We were blessed to have him come through our studio with a bag stuffed full of soul, funk, psych and African vinyl on a seriously cold and chilly Thursday night (that also was the NBA trade deadline).

spinning-deck
Rich Medina, searching for the perfect beat. All GIFs (cinemagraphs actually) by Gabe Coffey. http://lostalgian.tumblr.com

This Hot Mix was a reunion in a few ways.
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Starkey & Dev79 on their “anti-genre” STREET BASS

Two of Philadelphia’s electronic music veterans, Starkey and Dev79, came to the WKDU studio and spun a killer guest mix last Thursday. We recorded the mix and the guys posted it up for you to listen back. In between turns mixing, I got a chance to chat with the DJ/producers/label bosses about their history in Philadelphia’s electronic music scene.

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5 Riffs That Humans Wrote

Good day, readers. Inspired by fellow DJ Nick Myers’ late-night accusation that “all the good riffs have been written,” I give to you 5 examples of perfect riffage that will hopefully inspire the guitarists in all of us to turn up the ol’ Peavey and make something beautiful.

While this list is far from comprehensive (and totally ignores guitar solos, a totally different concept that I hope to address in a future post), I hope that it provides a good sampling of riffs for your heads to bang to.

A note: Two of these groups are playing shows in Philadelphia tonight, and if you have Facebook and a nose for guitars and basements, I bet you can find them.

 1. Sleep – Holy Mountain 

The lonely, droopy guitar line at the 4 minute mark is my jam. Last heard on John Sinclair’s show “Cosmic Debris.”

 2. Painted Ship – And She Said Yes 

Painted Ship were a legendary garage punk band from Vancouver. Active from 1965-68, they put out several dynamite 45s. 1966’s “And She Said Yes” was a ripping B-side. No bassist and a hollering lead singer is clearly the way to do things.

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Sounds of Midnight: the very first tracks played in 2015

Midnight strikes at Making Time NYE
Madness ensues at Union Transfer as Making Time NYE transcends into 2015!
Playing the right track at the right time is one of the most important aspects of DJing. I asked some of my favorite DJs that spun on New Year’s what they played at MIDNIGHT to see what songs ushered in 2015 !!!

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A Playlist from The Wytches

English three-piece surf-psych band The Wytches dropped the killer Annabel Dream Reader this August on Partisan Records, and stopped by at WKDU on November 21st while on the tail end of their US tour.

Check out their playlist below featuring Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Esperanza Spalding, Converge and more!